The Legend of the Looking Glass
by Dinohorse
Summary: Two different Alices have spent two years away from their Under/Wonderland. they are called back, one to fufill the other's prophecy while the second to rid another world of its tyrant. Tim Burtonx1951 Disney Versions. Rating may change.
1. TB Chapter 1

A young woman of twenty-one strolled through a small maze of hedges, pausing to sniff at the white roses that had grown in between their branches. She wandered through the maze, not paying attention to where her feet took her but taking the right path all the same. She took the entire scene around her in, appreciating everything from the clouds above her to the feeling of damp grass beneath her foot. A breeze started up, catching her long blond hair and silky blue dress and making them flutter behind her.

When the woman stepped out of the maze she headed straight for the pond in front of her and sat in the chair that was in the perfect spot to overlook both the water and the estate. She sighed in happiness, sitting back in the chair, closing her eyes, and letting the sun warm her face. She wasn't like this for long, however, before a high voice robbed her of her just-beginning doze.

"I see you are you enjoying yourself, Alice." The voice observed from behind her. Alice shifted a little in the chair but didn't open her eyes.

"I am thank you." She replied. "And I was just getting into a nice nap when you began talking. So, sir, if you could be so kind as to leave I am sure that you may be able to get a tart for your troubles from the large house over on that hill. I am not doing business today."

"Oh, but you would surely jump at the chance to do the business at the place I come from." The voice said. "After all, you have been there twice before."

Alice frowned. "I assure you, sir, that no business anyone can offer me at this moment will get me to move from this chair." She said stubbornly.

"Oh, fine." The voice sighed. "I will leave, but I can assure you that you will disappoint many."

"I do not care who I disappoint this day for I can make it up to them on another." Alice declared.

"Of course, what if one more day when you have been waiting for so many before?" The voice asked with a hint of sarcasm.

Alice opened her eyes a bit and furrowed her brow. "Whatever are you going on about?"

"You don't remember? I know it has been two years, Alice , but none of us have forgotten your promise. Especially Tarrant." The voice added quietly.

Alice almost fell out of her chair in her haste to turn around. Her accomplishment in remaining seated was short-lived, though, as she promptly hurdled herself to the ground in an attempt to reach the white rabbit in a blue waistcoat standing a few feet behind her.

"White rabbit!" She exclaimed after she spit out the grass she had gathered from her fall.

The rabbit sighed. "You know, my name is Nivens and it is quite insulting to be called anything but." He told her as she picked herself off and straightened her dress. "Now we must be going.'

Alice regained her footing and followed the rabbit into the maze, quickly catching up and then matching pace with him. "I am sorry. How is everything in Underland?"

Nivens shrugged. "Fine. Not much has happened since you left two years ago. The Red Queen is gone, the White Queen rules, everything is peaceful."

"So why come and get me?" Alice asked. "I mean, I would love to return to Underland, but I know there must be a reason."

"Oh, there is a reason." Nivens reassured her.

"And that would be?"

"I don't know."

Alice stopped. "How do you know that there is a reason but you do not know the reason?"

"Because Absolem says there is a reason, that is how." Nivens said. "Now hurry up or we'll be late!"

"Absolem?" Alice asked, starting after the rabbit again. "How is that possible? He turned into a butterfly and flew away. The last time I saw him was on my boat headed for China nearly two years ago."

"Well he returned and he's a caterpillar again."

Alice was thoroughly confused. "What? How does that even work? How does-"

Nivens cut her off. "Good heavens, child! Are you really that daft to think that you can put your overworld logic on Underland? Did you bump your head when you went to Chinya-"

" China ." Alice interrupted.

The rabbit stomped his foot in irritation. "It doesn't matter! The point is that this is Overland , that is Underland, and you acting worse than you did when you first came and thought the whole blasted place was called Wonderland!"

Alice backed up a little. "I'm sorry Nivens. I just want to understand."

The rabbit rolled his eyes. "Everyone does, Alice ." He said before wiping his brow with a small blue handkerchief he produced from his pocket and then checking his watch. "Come along now, we're late. No more of your "how" or "why" nonsense and we might make it though this in a timely fashion."

Alice abided and followed Nivens in silence. As they walked, she noticed that the maze was making turns that it never had before, the hedges were growing taller, and red roses were mixed within the white. She felt the urge to ask a dozen "how" questions and twice as many "why" but she restrained herself. After a few more minutes of walking they came upon the maze's apparent center: a large circular clearing where the hedges were taller than three Alices and a huge tree in the middle. After looking at it for a moment, she realized that it was the same tree as the one she had fallen into at the party two years ago.

Nivens lead her around the tree until they came upon the hole in its roots. "I always hate doing this. It makes my fur so awfully messy." He sighed. He looked back once more at Alice before plunging into the hole.

Alice stared at the dark hole for a moment. A smile crept across her lips slowly. "To Wonderland I go." She whispered to no one before plunging down the hole herself.


	2. 1951 Chapter 2

"Snowdrop, drop that!" A little girl commanded angrily. The cat that the command was directed towards paid the girl no heed and continued to attempt to eat the girl's black headband. The girl huffed and shoved the cat away from the headband and took it back and nestled it neatly in her bold hair. She then turned to another, much older, cat and waggled her finger.

"Dinah, you really do need to keep your children in check." She scolded. The cat simply blinked her eyes and swished her tail lazily.

Suddenly, the girl's mother appeared in her doorway. " Alice , I want to make some pies but we do not have enough berries. Would you be a dear and fetch some in the pail?" Her mother asked.

Alice stood, brushing the cat hair off of her pretty dress. "Of course, Mother." She said politely. She took the pail from her mother, trotted down the stairs, and exited the house. She headed towards the river, where the best berry bushes grew. She began whistling as she picked, stopping once in awhile to sneak a berry for herself.

A voice behind her startled her so bad she almost fell into the bushes. "I recognize that song. It's that terribly irritating un-birthday song the Hatter is always singing isn't it?" The voice asked.

Alice turned around and almost screamed her lungs out at the small white rabbit and a red waistcoat and round spectacles standing just a little ways away from her. "Oh no, not you!"

The white rabbit shuffled his feet a little and sighed. "Oh, they told me you were going to be trouble, now didn't they?"

Alice couldn't tear her eyes away from the familiar yet strange creature before her. "What do you want? No, I don't care. Go away!"

"I will not go away. I need you to come with me back to Wonderland." The rabbit explained.

Alice folded her arms. "I am never ever going back that terrible place!" She protested. "I shall just sit here until I wake up. Dreams are the only way that you can be here, and dreams cannot go on forever."

"I can assure you, Alice, that this is no dream." He argued, starting to get cross. "Now come along! They took my pocket watch so I would come here and I am getting quite agitated to be without it."

"No." Alice said, sitting down and crossing her legs.

"Come on now." The rabbit pleaded. "You are acting as if you are five."

"I am eleven now, thank you very much." Alice told him angrily.

The rabbit sighed. He stared at Alice for a moment before suddenly lunging at Alice , seizing the bow from her hair, and darting off through the bushes.

Alice screamed and ran after him, forgetting all about her resolution to stay still. The leapt over bushes and weaved around trees until she came upon the thing she dreaded most: the rabbit hole. She looked around, but the rabbit was nowhere in sight.

"He must have gone down the hole." she said to herself. She got on her hands and knees and poked her head into the hole. She cautiously moved forward, feeling for the rim of the tunnel that lead to Wonderland. She reached it and decided to give up. There was no way she was going down there again.

She began to back out of the hole when her foot struck something that made a pained sound. The rabbit was behind her!

"Down you go." The rabbit yelled, shoving her forcefully before she had time to react. She tried to dig her fingers into the ground to no avail. The ground underneath her palms disappeared and she tumbled into the tunnel headfirst.

She was off to Wonderland again.


	3. TB Chapter 3

"Nivens, wait for me!" Alice called. The white rabbit stopped and looked back at the girl.

"Well hurry up, then."

Alice picked up her dress and ran. She reached Nivens out of breath. "You are... much larger than me. Your steps are at least ten of mine." She told him, looking up at his immense face.

Nivens sighed. "I have already apologized for forgetting any Upelkuchen. I am sure that Mallymkun or Tarrant has some."

"May I at least climb onto your back? We'll get there faster, maybe even on time." Alice pointed out.

Nivens frowned, but Alice knew she had hit is soft spot. "Oh fine, but make sure not to get my waistcoat dirty. And don't get used to it, I am not Bayard."

Alice smiled and clambered onto his back, making sure she put not even a wrinkle on the rabbit' silky blue top. Once she was seated Nivens took off. He found it easier to go on all fours with Alice on him, but that meant a lot of bouncing around. Alice almost fell off twice and had to yank on Niven's ears to get him to slow down.

At last, Nivens stood upright and took Alice off of his back. "We're almost to Absolem, you can walk now."

As they walked, the flowers noticed their presence. Some of them greeted them. The kinder ones recognized Alice and sent up cries of joy.

"Alice, you've returned!"

"It's been a long time."

Alice smiled and waved pleasantly at the flowers as she passed. She almost didn't notice that Nivens stopped. The only thing that told her of their arrival was the overwhelming smell of smoke. Her eyes watered and she had to cough a few times when she ran into a cloud of it.

"Absolem... up to your old ways again, I see." She coughed. The smoke cleared a bit and she could begin to make out the outline of the blue caterpillar sitting on the mushroom that he had before as if no time at all had passed between her visits.

"Old ways?" Absolem mused. "I never knew that I had ever stopped."

Alice opened her mouth, ready to start arguing with the caterpillar, but she shut it again. She would get nowhere with him, just as she had gotten nowhere with Nivens.

"You look like a fish when you do that, did you know?" Absolem asked. "A rather washed-up fish, mind you."

"It's nice to see you too." Alice laughed.

"I said nor implied anything of that sort." Absolem pointed out. "But now that you point it out, I guess that it is not unpleasant to see you again."

"So, what is this reason you wanted me for?" Alice asked.

"Ah, we'll get to that in time. Why not visit your friends? Nivens, please take Alice to the tea party." Absolem said.

Nivens crossed his little arms. "No. I am not going back there. I'm tried of having to pick bits of china out of my fur when Thackery gets into one of his moods."

Absolem waved his many arms. "Fine. Chessur, would you kindly stop being invisible for awhile and take Alice?" He asked seemingly no one.

"Why certainly, Absolem." A voice said from the immediate right of Alice, startling her and making her jump a little. She watched as the gray-and-blue cat appeared next to her, grinning as he always did. "Did I scare you?"

Alice smiled once her heart stopped beating crazily. "Yes, quite a lot actually." She confessed.

Chessur twirled in the air a few times and stopped so he was looking at her upside-down. "Goody."

"Chessur, the tea party?" Absolem reminded the cat.

"Yes, of course. Alice, climb on." Chessur said, rubbing his belly. Alice hopped onto him, using his fur as little grips, and he floated away from the ground slowly. Once he was above the lowest plants, he lazily started towards the tea party.

"So Chessur, has anything interesting happen while I was gone?" Alice asked as they went.

"Hmmm. Well, Bayard and his wife recently had a new litter of pups." He said, thinking it over. "Oh, and Tarrant tried to show some of the Queen's guards how to Futterwaken."

Alice smiled. "And how did that go?"

"Horribly. Three of them have minor injuries, four are having emergency healing, and one may never walk again." He reported without the grin leaving his face.

Alice stopped smiling. "Oh."

"So how was returning to Overland?" Chessur asked without skipping a beat.

Alice opened her mouth to respond but she was drowned out by a loud crashing noise. She looked up and could just make out a long table with a dirty white tablecloth piled high with pots, dishes, and cups. Two figures were visible, one trying to take something from the other.

"Ohh, I just had the best idea." Chessur said suddenly. "Would you like to mess with the Hatter a bit?"

Alice raised an eyebrow. "What do you have in mind?"

As Chessur explained his little plan, Alice had to laugh. "Let's do it." The cat let her off in some bushes near the table and floated towards the party slowly enough so she could keep up. Once she got close enough, Alice could see that it was Tarrant struggling to get a pretty teapot out of Thackery's paws. Mallymkun, who was too small to be seen from a large distance, prodded the crazed rabbit with her sword. Chessur drifted right up to them without their notice.

"Put it down!" Tarrant yelled, apparently having a surprisingly hard time loosening the rabbit's grip.

Mallymkun stabbed Thackery some more. "You crazy hare! Stop destroying all of our china!" Thackery yelled something back at them but Alice could not understand it, nor tell if it was because of his accent or if the words were just gibberish.

"Perhaps I could be of service." Chessur said. He evaporated to the side of the teapot opposite of Alice and rammed it. The force knocked the teapot away from the table and sent it flying. It landed in the bushes a little higher than Alice and unscathed.

"Oh, now look wha' you've done!" The Hatter said, a hint of his Scottish brogue creeping into his voice.

Chessur flicked his tail dismissively. "I didn't hear it break. I'm sure it's fine. I'll go get it." He said. Alice had just replaced the lid on the teapot when the cat picked it up. He returned to the table and handed it to Tarrant, who shook it a little.

"What's this? It seems like there's some tea still in here. Mallymkun, are there any cups left, by chance?" Tarrant asked.

The dormouse ran around the table until she found a cup and saucer that had slid off the table and were resting on a chair, which she gave to Tarrant. He smiled at her and proceeded to pour the tea, which wasn't tea at all but, in fact, a young woman.

"Alice!" The Hatter exclaimed in surprise when she slid out of the teapot's spout and landed in his cup. Mallymkun peeked her head over the rim and laughed in joy. The dormouse tipped the cup, causing Alice to tumble out of it and land on the stained cloth.

Alice picked herself up and smiled at all of them. "Why hello."

The Hatter laughed and clapped his hands before looking at the Cheshire Cat. "Did you do that on purpose?

Chessur smiled. "Who, me? Why, I would never do such a thing."

Tarrant rolled his eyes and returned his attention back to Alice. "Now, why is it that you're always showing up much smaller than me?

"I'm sorry. There was no Upelkuchen in the room with all of the doors and Nivens didn't have any." Alice told him.

"Oh, we have some!" Mallymkun said energetically. She skittered away from Alice and was lost for a few moments in the large piles of dishes and mounds of broken china. She returned carrying a small, ornamented box with a clear lid that let anyone look at the neatly written "Eat Me's on each of the cakes. Alice lifted the lid and took a tiny piece of one of the cakes. She looked at it for a moment before suddenly having a thought.

"What about my dress? Clothes seem to grow and form magically in the room but not so out here." She pointing out, realizing it could have gotten very embarrassing for her very quickly. "Chessur, my first dress is back in the room. Would you kindly go get it?"

"Take Thackery, will you?" The Hatter asked. "He needs a little time away from fragile things."

"Let me wear your hat." The cat demanded.

Tarrant gripped his beloved hat's brim as if it were going to float right off of his head. "No."

Chessur's normal smile somehow grew wider. "Please? I have only gotten to wear it once."

Tarrant shook his head. "Tell you what: If you go get Alice's dress and take Thackery with you, I will make you a hat just like this."

Chessur spun in the air. "Oh, if that is all it takes! Come along, Thackery." He exclaimed, nudging the rabbit, who had been intently staring at several spoons in his paws until then, out of his chair.

"Spoons." The hare said absentmindedly but didn't resist. He followed the cat down the path and into the grass quietly and disappeared from sight.

"Why was he all quiet then but screamin' like a madman when we were trying to stop him from breaking things?" Mallymkun huffed.

Tarrant shrugged. "I don't think I scream nearly as loudly as he." He suddenly turned back towards Alice. "So how are you?"

"Fine, really." Alice told him.

"How was Overland? Did anything happen up there?" Mallymkun asked.

Alice laughed. "Of course things happened. Nothing quite as interesting as anything that happened here."

The Hatter seemed pleased with Alice's words. "So did you see the world like you wanted?"

Alice sighed. "Not all of it. I had to go to China to help with a trade business there. I had just returned yesterday. It was interesting for the first few months but it got awfully dull after awhile. All I could think of was Underland."

"Well now you've returned and don't have to think of it." Tarrant said cheerfully.

"Yes, but I don't know why." Alice told him. "Nivens came to get me and said that Absolem wanted me, but when we got to where he was he just sent me here."

"Absolem works in strange ways. Sometimes I think he's madder than Thackery." Mallymkun mused.

"No one is madder than Thackery." Alice laughed lightly.

"I take offense to that." Tarrant said. "I am much madder than that rabbit."

Alice rolled her eyes. "Hatter, you are not nearly as mad as you believe yourself to be."

Tarrant frowned. "I take offense to that too."

Chessur suddenly evaporated into existence next to Alice, scaring her worse than the last time that he appeared. He opened his paws and let a bright blue bundle unroll itself into Alice's dress.

"Thank you, Chessur, but where is Thackery?" Alice asked.

"I simply do not know." Chessur admitted. "He ran off as soon as we were out of sight and I did not feel like following him."

Mallymkun sighed. "We need to go find him or else he'll cause all sorts of trouble. Come on, you lazy cat."

Chessur snorted but followed the dormouse as she leapt off the table and went into the forest.

"We'll wait with Absolem for you!" Alice called after them. She turned and grabbed the piece of Upelkuchen from earlier. "Hatter, would you be as kind as to take my and my dress to those bushes over there?"

Tarrant obliged, picking Alice and her dress up and taking her to a group of thick bushes. He set her down and went back to the table while the tiny girl crawled around and positioned her dress so that she would grow right into it. Satisfied, she swallowed the piece of cake and immediately began growing. Soon she was her right size again and stepping out of the bushes.

"You really do fancy those blue dresses, now don't you?" Tarrant smiled. "Every time you come you're in one."

Alice laughed a little. "I guess I do. Well, I'm going back to Absolem. Would you like to come?"

The Hatter stood and held out his arm. "Let's go." Alice took and started back down the path and into the forest.


End file.
